07.27.17: Mind in the gutter

DURING THE PAST two decades, the newspaper page has become narrower. And narrower. And still narrower.

In an attempt to avoid the woes of poor wordspacing, many publishers made the decision to decrease the space between columns to only nine points (1) from the traditional 12 points (2).

That move didn’t help much at all. The spacing between words was still bad.

But…there is a fix, and it’s what I’ve recommended to many clients during those same two decades: Run your text flush left.

Even if you stick to the narrow nine point gutters (3), flush left text pushes all the uneven spacing to the right edge of the line. It’s a fix that allows you to keep the tighter gutters—but create the look of more space between columns. And it obviates the need to check for poor wordspacing when you want to create a text wrap around a mug shot, logo or other visual.